Colonial Era: 1611-1742
![Picture](/uploads/7/2/8/7/7287850/425956052.jpeg)
The city of Richmond is strategically located on the fall line that separates the rolling hills of the Virginia Piedmont from the marshy flatlands of the Tidewater. The early beginnings of the city trace all they way back to 1611 when settlers at Jamestown headed up the James River until they reached the falls. This is where the village of Henricus was established; and although it was a short-lived community due to conflicts with local Powhatan native-American tribes, it established this location as a fertile area for human settlement. English settlement returned to the Richmond area in 1730 as the local soil was well suited for the cultivation of tobacco (u-s-history.com). With population beginning to rise due to the new economic drive, Richmond, named for its English predecessor, was laid out It in a traditional grid pattern in 1737 (city-data.com). Five years later in 1742 it was officially chartered as a town, and was governed by the Virginia House of Burgesses, which was North America’s first political organization made up of elected officials (u-s-history.com).
The Revolution: 1775-1790
![Picture](/uploads/7/2/8/7/7287850/552596101.jpg?1424721035)
Richmond played a pivotal role for the colonies in the time leading up to the Revolutionary War. With Virginia being the largest of the thirteen colonies, its support for the breakaway from England was imperative. On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech in Richmond’s St. John’s Church (in the present day Church Hill neighborhood), where he stated “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death” (Henry, 1775)! This reveling argument served as the catalyst for Virginia’s involvement in the Revolution, and ultimately led to the signing of Declaration of Independence the following year. The city’s inland location was a determining reason in the relocation of the Virginia capital from Williamsburg to Richmond in 1779. During the war, the city was raided by British troops under the lead of Benedict Arnold, and was burned to the ground in 1780 (u-s-history.com). This catastrophe did not hinder the city development, as Richmond was officially incorporated as a city in 1782. By 1790, Richmond was the 18th largest city in the United States (3,761), as its urbanization expanded rapidly following the end of the War (Gibson, 1998).
Slavery and the Civil War: 1800-1865
![Picture](/uploads/7/2/8/7/7287850/857041552.jpg?415)
During the Antebellum period (1800-1860), Richmond prospered economically and served as a major center of commerce and industry between the North and the South. The Shockoe Bottom area along the James River served as the center of the city’s slave trade for much of the United States. It is estimated that anywhere from 300,000-350,000 Africans were processed through the auction block before heading further south (u-s-history.com). Tobacco processing continued as a large economic sector, but was supplemented with some of the country’s largest iron, brick, and coal supplies (city-data.com). When the Confederate States of America was created in 1861, the city’s role as an industrial center made it an important asset to the South during the Civil War, as the Tredegar Iron Works helped produce much of the artillery used by Confederacy during the War (visitrichmondva.com).When it became evident that the Union were going to take the city, citizens were told to evacuate Richmond and burn the tobacco, cotton, and other industrial areas of value. Just like 90 years prior, the fire left the city in ruins, and Richmond was once again forced to rebuild itself physically and socially (u-s-history.com).
Reconstruction and Expansion: 1865-1952
![Picture](/uploads/7/2/8/7/7287850/378486103.jpg?1424721112)
While the city continued to heal from the War, Richmond did not reinvent itself economically; as it grew into the 1900’s as a center for both the tobacco and iron industry. The financial industry also began to thrive in the city, establishing Richmond as one of the preeminent Banking capitals in the new South (city-data.com). As a way to memorialize the great numbers of citizens lost during the War, Monument Avenue was constructed in 1877. This tree-lined promenade paid homage to Confederate figures like Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson (u-s-history.com). Growth within city limits was expedited by the creation of the nation’s first electric trolley system in 1888, which modernized the local transportation network, and allowed residents to expand further out from the city core. By the year 1900, Richmond’s population reached 85,050 people, making it the nations’ 46th largest (census.gov). In 1910, Richmond merged with Manchester, on the southern bank of the James River. Contingent on the establishment of an un-tolled bridge, the new Richmond exploded to 127,628 residents by that year’s census (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2012). Like many cities throughout the country, Richmond was hit hard by the Great Depression but was able to rebound successfully thanks to the tobacco industry, headlined by Philip Morris. Cigarette production peaked in 1952, with 110 billion produced annually (u-s-history.com).
Post-War Prosperity: 1958-1980
![Picture](/uploads/7/2/8/7/7287850/664839343.jpg?315)
Following World War II, Richmond like most of the country experienced the rapid growth of suburban communities. This was accelerated by the creation of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike in 1958, which later became part of Interstate 95, the major north-south highway along the East Coast (u-s-history.com). Racial tensions in the city, and the Commonwealth peaked with the ruling of Brown vs. the Board of Education, as Richmond refused integration all the way up to 1970 (city-data.com). Downtown Richmond experienced a construction boom from 1963 to 1965, where over 700 new buildings were built (hometownusa.com). Natural disaster struck the city in 1972, as Hurricane Agnes pushed the flood waters 6.5 feet greater than the historical record. The city responded by constructing a floodwall in the early 1980’s to prevent such occurrence from happening again.
Trying to Reverse Decline: 1980-1990
![Picture](/uploads/7/2/8/7/7287850/416895549.jpg?1424829241)
The peak in the abandonment of the urban core in many U.S. cities occurred during the 1980s. Mayors across the country were looking to the newest urban planning fads to help catalyze urban redevelopment. The festival market place was one that was successfully implemented in grand fashions like Boston’s Faneuil Hall and Baltimore’s Inner Harbor (Wilson, 1989). Department stores in downtown Richmond had relocated to the outer suburbs, leaving a retail void along Broad and Sixth Streets. Like most cities that have existed for over 200 years, Richmond had a strong history of public marketplaces (Urbanismo). So in 1985, Richmond unveiled the enclosed public 6th Street Marketplace to much fanfare, as it was seen as a solution to the urban blight plaguing the city. This was not the case unfortunately, as the project encountered financial issues only two years after its inception. By 1989, it was realized that the Richmond did not have the tourism draw to sustain the Marketplace (Wilson, 1989). Regarded as Richmond’s most infamous urban renewal failure, the final remnants of 6th Street Marketplace were removed in 2007. The 1980s concluded in Richmond on a high note as Douglas Wilder was elected governor in 1989, making him the first African-American to be elected governor in the United States. While this was an important public illustration of Richmond racial progress since the 1970 school integration, poverty levels among African-Americans in the city remained high (WRIC, 2015).
Peak of Negative Perception: 1990-2000
![Picture](/uploads/7/2/8/7/7287850/483674008.png?527)
While the event took place twenty years earlier, the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill in 1971 that placed a moratorium on city annexation (virginiaplaces.org). This was a response to the previous years integration, as it would make sure that the suburban communities remained predominately white (Holtzman, 2013). Whites were not the only demographic moving out of city, as middle and upper-class African-Americans also opted for the higher rated suburban school system into the 1980s. By the 1990’s, many of Richmond’s inner-city neighborhoods were now primarily low-income. Based off of crime data, Richmond’s decline peaked in 1994, as there was a record 158 homicides (CHPN.net). By the end of the decade, in 1999, that number was reduced to 74. One of the projects that spur revitalization in downtown Richmond was the construction of the James River Floodwall in 1995. This helped spur development in the historic Shockoe Bottom and Shockoe Slip neighborhoods that were once ground zero for the African slave trade (usastudentravel.com). Part of what was stunting Richmond’s growth was the city’s unwillingness to confront its troubled past, in regard to race relations. This issue was illustrated in 1995 with the addition of Richmond native Arthur Ashe’s statue to Monument Avenue, the South’s preeminent homage to notable Confederates (The New York Times, 1995).
Era of Revitalization: 2000-Present
![Picture](/uploads/7/2/8/7/7287850/368389562.jpg?315)
At the turn of the new millennium, Richmond was beginning to realize its historic assets and utilize them to further revitalize the city. The historic James River and Kanawha Canal was redeveloped into a canal walk in the Downtown area. This furthered the existing renaissance in the riverside neighborhoods, as it many former industrial buildings were repurposed into loft apartments, restaurants, and shopping (NBC12, 2013). Alongside the neighborhood revitalization was an effort to maintain the areas historical significance, as the National Park Service’s Richmond Civil War Visitor Center located in the famous Tredegar Iron Works building (Tredegar.org). Devastating floods took hold on the city, and the Shockoe Bottom neighborhood in particular during Tropical Storm Gaston in 2004. The neighborhood’s drainage system had backed up during the rapid torrential downpour, leading the city to invest $20 million in improving the sewage outflows (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2012). The 2010 census showed that Richmond had grown for the first time in forty years, and this can be primarily attributed to the influx of young professionals and “empty-nesters” into the city revitalized urban neighborhoods (census.gov). Much of the gentrification that the city has experienced during recent years can be attributed to the 15-year tax abatements that were put in place in 1995. This city program was intended to spur inner city revitalization via historic preservation, which it has done successfully. However, this has also led to the displacement of many low-income, minority residents (Style Weekly, 2011).